The bill, though
opposed mainly by representatives from the Southern States,
where doctrinaire politics and orthodox theology were in strong
alliance with negro slavery, was passed by both Houses of
Congress, but vetoed by President Buchanan, in whom the
doctrinaire and orthodox spirit was incarnate. But Morrill
persisted and again presented his bill, which was again carried
in spite of the opposition of the Southern members, and again
vetoed in 1859 by President Buchanan. Then came the civil war;
but Morrill and his associates did not despair of the republic.
In the midst of all the measures for putting vast armies into
the field and for saving the Union from foreign interference as
well as from domestic anarchy, they again passed the bill, and
in 1862, in the darkest hour of the struggle for national
existence, it became a law by the signature of President Lincoln.
And here it should not be unrecorded, that, while the vast
majority of the supporters of the measure were laymen, most
efficient service was rendered by a clergyman, the Rev.
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